Noon passes without an iPad mini invitation from Apple

FORTUNE — I have to take the fall for passing along the rumor — apparently false — that invitations were set to go out on Oct. 10 for an iPad mini unveiling on Oct. 17.

Given that the last three invites I’ve received from Apple Special Events arrived in my inbox before 12:01 p.m. Eastern, I had already almost given up hope when, at 12:08 p.m., I got this tweet from The Loop‘s Jim Dalrymple — a blogger with unusually good sources within Apple:

I think I’ll take a break and go get some lunch. It’s a quiet day.

That seemed like a pretty strong signal. It was followed a few minutes later by a fake headline tweeted by Macworld’s Chris Brennan:

OK. I deserve that. My source was a major Apple (AAPL) investor who had heard it from three different sources. They were wrong about the timing. I was wrong to pass the tip along. I don’t know what I was doing in the rumor business in the first place. Mea culpa.

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